In this chapter, we review two approaches for understanding these national differences in math abilities. The first approach attempts to link cross-national differences in educational input to cross-national differences in test scores. A tacit assumption of this approach is that children's performance on tests of mathematics is a direct effect of…

Using one cohort of 7235 middle school students in Beijing, China, we examined the evolution of the gender achievement gap in middle school. Our study found a more significant female dominance than in U.S. studies: even though boys gradually caught up during middle school, especially in Math and Science, and the gender achievement gap decreased…